Jardim Botânico Tropical

Belém


Far from the madding crowd, these botanical gardens bristle with hundreds of species, from date palms to monkey-puzzle trees. Spread across 7 hectares, it’s a peaceful, shady retreat on a sweltering summer’s day. A highlight is the Macau garden, complete with mini pagoda, where bamboo rustles and a cool stream trickles.

Tots will love clambering over the gnarled roots of a banyan tree and spotting the waddling ducks and geese.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Belém attractions

1. Mosteiro dos Jerónimos

0.1 MILES

Belém’s undisputed heart-stealer is this Unesco-listed monastery. The mosteiro is the stuff of pure fantasy: a fusion of Diogo de Boitaca’s creative…

2. Museu da Presidência da República

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3. Palácio de Belém

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4. Museu Nacional de Arqueologia

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Housed in the western wing of Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the intriguing stash here contains mesolithic flint stones, Egyptian mummies inside elaborately…

5. Museu de Marinha

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The Museu de Marinha is a nautical flashback to the Age of Discoveries, with its armadas of model ships, cannonballs and shipwreck booty. Dig for buried…

6. Antigo Picadeiro Real

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Lisbon's original coach museum is now home to just seven of these majestic 18th-century four-wheeled works of art, but it's worth also visiting the…

7. Museu Nacional dos Coches

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8. Padrão dos Descobrimentos

0.32 MILES

The monolithic Padrão dos Descobrimentos, looking like a caravel ship frozen in midswell, was inaugurated in 1960 on the 500th anniversary of Henry the…